I'd promised Sam and Karen yesterday that I would help out again today. Still, I was dragging my feet. I finally got my act together around 10 a.m. and hit the road. Traffic was light on Interstate-295 (Baltimore Washington Parkway) and I arrived at the SHARE warehouse in Bladensburg half and hour. I expected another boring chilly day of bagging sweet potatoes. It was not to be to my surprise.
The first surprise I got was when I bunch of 3rd or 4th graders showed up at the warehouse. I don't know what school they were from but I have to applaud them. It was great of them to bring the kids down to warehouse to help. It helps teach the kids about giving something to the community and caring about others less fortunate. Karen alias Jingle (probably because of her wonderful personality) briefed the kids on what they had to do. It was the same job I'd done the day before. You weighed out 2 and 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes, put them in a plastic sack, tie the open end of the sack, and put 12 bags of potatoes in each box or large potato sack. The kids took to it with gusto though they did have to be shown just what was 2 and 1/2 pounds. Barring that, I doubt SHARE had seen such enthusiastic volunteers.
The second surprise I got was when Chris, one of the group account managers, told me they needed help in the back. Little did I realize what I was getting myself in for. Certain orders are so big that SHARE gets these orders ready ahead of distribution day. Chris and some other volunteers were busy getting these orders ready. It is hard work as an order may have 5 50-pound sacks of potatoes, 3 40-pound sacks of onions, 8 40-pound boxes of apples, 4 40-pound boxes of celery, and 5 30-pound boxes of tangelos. In no time, I was beat from lifting the boxes though Chris kept right on trucking. I guess he's use to such work. I know I'm not and found new admiration for his surprising strength.
FYI, SHARE has five group account managers of which Chris is one. Each group account manager manages a certain region. Chris told me they have one that handles the city of Baltimore, another handles Washington D.C., and others handle regions in Maryland and Virginia. The individual members of the SHARE program will go to a sub-group manager who in turn goes to the group manager. Only if the matter is particularly urgent will an individual member go to the group manager i.e. they got shorted 50 pounds of potatoes or large quantity of some other item.
Karen alias Jingle is another person you should try to meet at SHARE. This lady walks around with a permanent smile on her face and a song in her heart. I've never seen her angry. She has repeatedly shown great kindness to volunteers who help out at SHARE. One of the first things she did when I arrived this morning was direct me to where some hot chicken soup and hot chocolate was. She is also working on a list of volunteers so SHARE can host a get together for them to show its appreciation for what they do as well as let them know of other events at SHARE. She is definitely one of the people that help make it fun to help out at SHARE. If you show up there some time, make sure you say hi to Jingle.
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